Embedded meeting extensions

ABSTRACT

Embeddable extensions of the functionality of email and calendaring applications are described herein. An originating email and calendaring application formats meeting items to include extensible content, e.g., within the body field of the meeting item. Recipient email and calendaring applications receive the meeting items and, depending on whether they are configured to provide an extended functionality, will either deploy the extensible content item according to the extended functionality or present the extensible content item according to a standardized functionality. The body field includes the extensible content item according to the standardized functionality that is interpretable by configured clients to provide the extended functionality.

BACKGROUND

Email and calendaring applications provide users with the ability toschedule meetings and share communications, including attacheddocuments, with one another. As users may employ several differentapplications to schedule meetings and stay on task, developers need tobe mindful of the various standards used by the applications so thatcommunications between users with different calendar and emailapplications are mutually interpretable.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription section. This summary is not intended to identify all key oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended asan aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Systems, methods, and computer readable memory storage devices embodyingprocessor executable instructions that provide for embeddable extensionsof the functionality of email and calendaring applications are describedherein. According to aspects, email and calendaring applications formatmeeting items to include extensible content within the body field of themeeting item. Recipient email and calendaring applications receive themeeting items and, depending on whether they are configured to providean extended functionality, will either deploy the extensible contentitem according to the extended functionality or present the extensiblecontent item according to a standardized functionality. The body fieldincludes the extensible content item according to the standardizedfunctionality as a hyperlink that is interpretable by configured clientsto provide the extended functionality.

Examples are implemented as a computer process, a computing system, oras an article of manufacture such as a device, computer program product,or computer readable medium. According to an aspect, the computerprogram product is a computer storage medium readable by a computersystem and encoding a computer program comprising instructions forexecuting a computer process.

The details of one or more aspects are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and description below. Other features and advantages will beapparent from a reading of the following detailed description and areview of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that thefollowing detailed description is explanatory only and is notrestrictive of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this disclosure, illustrate various aspects. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example operating environmentin which the present disclosure may be practiced;

FIGS. 2A-2C are example user interfaces illustrating aspects of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an examplemethod for interchangeably providing access to extended functionalitiesfor meeting items in enabled clients;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an examplemethod for hosting a note object by a note server for provision toenabled clients;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating example physical components of acomputing device;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are block diagrams of a mobile computing device; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a distributed computing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawingsand the following description refers to the same or similar elements.While examples may be described, modifications, adaptations, and otherimplementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, ormodifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings,and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting,reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, thefollowing detailed description is not limiting, but instead, the properscope is defined by the appended claims. Examples may take the form of ahardware implementation, or an entirely software implementation, or animplementation combining software and hardware aspects. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment 100 in which thepresent disclosure may be practiced. As illustrated, a sender uses ameeting originator 110 to transmit a meeting request 120 to variousrecipients, for example, as a meeting item via an email and calendaringapplication. The meeting request 120 includes a note object for accessby the recipients, which behaves differently depending on thefunctionality of the client used to access the meeting request 120. Forexample, a first recipient who uses a legacy client 130 to access themeeting request 120 will see instructions for how to access the noteobject, e.g., a hyperlink, whereas a second recipient who uses anenabled client 140 to access the meeting request 120 and is enabled toaccess and edit the note object from within the enabled client 140 via anote extension 150. The note object of the meeting request 120 is hostedon a note server 160 that is accessed by the recipients via a noteapplication 170, enabling the participants in a meeting to collaboratevia the meeting request 120.

The meeting originator 110, legacy client 130, enabled client 140, noteserver 160, and note application 170 are provided by computing systemsincluding, without limitation, desktop computer systems, wired andwireless computing systems, mobile computing systems (e.g., mobiletelephones, netbooks, tablet or slate type computers, notebookcomputers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,minicomputers, printers, and mainframe computers. The hardware of thesecomputing systems is discussed in greater detail in regard to FIGS. 5-7.Various servers and intermediaries familiar to those of ordinary skillin the art may lie between the component systems illustrated in FIG. 1to route the communications between those systems, which are notillustrated so as not to distract from the novel aspects of the presentdisclosure.

The note application 170 includes one or more authoring applications,such as, for example, word processors, spreadsheet applications,presentation applications, note taking applications, drawingapplications, sound recording applications, video recordingapplications, etc. Additionally, the note application 170 includeslocally executed “thick client” applications as well as remotelyexecuted “thin client” applications provided as a cloud-based softwareservice.

The meeting originator 110, legacy client 130, and enabled client 140are illustrative of a multitude of calendaring applications, which mayinclude email functionality. A given recipient may use one or morecalendaring applications, some of which may be legacy clients 130 (e.g.,on a personal device) and some of which may be enabled clients 140(e.g., on a work device), and a sender does not need to know whichcalendaring application the recipient will use to access the meetinginvitation 120. To enable both legacy clients 130 and enabled clients140 to access the same note object to the fullest extent that eitherclient can, the meeting originator 110 uses the body field of themeeting invitation 120 to include a reference to the note object that isseparately interpretable by legacy clients 130 and enabled clients 140.Legacy clients 130 will interpret the body field as providing ahyperlink to the note object, by which the recipient may access the noteobject. Enabled clients 140 will interpret the body field as providingan embedded extension to access the note object within the enabledclients 140.

As will be appreciated, an enabled client 140 may be configured to actas a legacy client 130 (i.e., providing a hyperlink instead of or inaddition to the embedded extension) due to security features (e.g.,lacking a valid login or security context to access the note object),personal preferences of the recipient, or the given enabled client 140lacking functionality to manipulate a given file type of the note object(e.g., a given client may be a legacy client 130 for some file types andan enabled client 140 for others).

The meeting request 120 is formatted with various fields that areinterpretable by calendaring applications to share meeting invitationsamong various persons according to a known format. In various aspects,the meeting request 120 is formatted according to the Hypertext MarkupLanguage (HTML), and the various fields are parsed out by thecalendaring clients via tags defining the various fields and theirvalues. Such fields include invitee names, meeting titles, locations,start/end times, classifiers for recurrence, a body, etc. The body fieldaccepts freeform text entry, often to provide a description of themeeting associated with the meeting request 120, as well as otherobjects (e.g., images) that are embedded into meeting request 120 andinterpretable via its format (e.g., as HTML anchors to referencedobjects). According to other aspects, the calendaring servers maycommunicate with clients over a variety of other protocols (e.g., JSON,ICS, etc.).

By including a key value in the body section, the meeting originator 110alerts enabled clients 140 to additional functionalities included in themeeting request 120 for collaborating on the note object, while legacyclients 130 (which are incapable of providing the additionalfunctionalities) are enabled to provide a link to access the noteobject. For example, as is shown below in CODE 1, a division name mayinclude a key value and contents for a link to a note object on the noteserver 160. The contents of the division enable legacy clients 130 toprovide a hyperlink to the note object, whereas the division name alertsan enabled client 140 to provide additional functionalities instead ofor in addition to the hyperlink to the note object.

CODE 1: <body>  <div id = “Message”>   <p>Hey Team,</p>   <p>Attachedare the meeting notes for our planning meeting.</p>  </div>  <div id =“KeyValue”>   <a href=NoteServer.com/redir.aspx?cid=NoteObject>   <imgsrc=”NoteServer.com/NoteImage.gif” alt=”Notes” />   <p>Notes</p>   </a> </div> </body>

When parsing the body section, the enabled client 140 is triggered bythe key value in the division identifier (shown in CODE 1 as “KeyValue”)to provide additional functionalities, such as, for example, calling thenote extension 150, to provide the additional functionalities of thenote application 170 within the enabled client 140 to access the noteobject. Conversely, the legacy client 130 will parse the key value asthe identifier for the division (i.e., div id) and interpret the rest ofthe division as HTML instructions. Although shown as a key value of“KeyValue” in a division name, and with plaintext references to the noteobject and image from the note server 160, these values are given asnon-limiting examples, and various values for the KeyValue andreferences may be used, including encrypted versions of the values. Todecrypt encrypted values, the recipient may use an access token (e.g.,received from a directory server to log in the recipient) to locallydecrypt a candidate key value or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) orinitiate a handshake procedure with the note server 160 to requestaccess for the recipient to the note object. For example, candidates forkey values (e.g., division names) are decrypted, and the result iscompared to a known list of key values to determine whether to call anote extension 150.

The organizing user, at the time of meeting creation or an update, mayrequest a new document (of a particular type) to be provided, or a newdivision of an existing document to be provided. For example, many notetaking and spreadsheet applications allow for new “canvases” or“workbooks” to be included as divisions in a document, and manypresentation, word processing, an audio/video recording applicationsallow for breaks (e.g., new slides, pages, chapter markers) to be placedinto their documents. An originating user is therefore enabled to choosewhether a new document is to be instantiated, a new division is to beinstantiated for the meeting for an existing document, or an existingdivision of an existing document is to be used. For example, a firstrecurring meeting (e.g., a monthly human resources meeting) may use newdivisions for each recurrence (e.g., a January division, a Februarydivision, etc.) of a document shared across the recurrences, while asecond recurring meeting (e.g., a daily production goals meeting) mayaccess the same document for every recurrence of that meeting (e.g., ashift planning document).

In some aspects, where a new document or division is requested, themeeting request 120 is transmitted to the note server 160 from themeeting originator 110 to instantiate the note object for access by themeeting participants. In other aspects, where a new document or divisionis requested, the note object is not instantiated until a participantattempts to access the note object. In some aspects, the properties ofthe note object (e.g., file type, file name, template/layout, retentionperiod, security context) to be instantiated are transmitted to the noteserver via query values in the URL.

The note object may be retained for a set period of time or indefinitelydepending on the retention properties set by the originating user. Forexample, a document may be retained on the note server 160 until it ismanually deleted by a user, or may be deleted (or archived) in responseto a storage space limit being reached or a period of time elapsingsince the meeting associated with the note object (e.g., m months afterthe meeting). In various aspects, users may access the note server 160independently of an email and calendaring application to view ormanipulate the note object (e.g., to review meeting notes, delete thenote object, move the note object to a new location) or may access thenote object via an email and calendaring application and may manipulatethe note object in concert with the associated meeting object (e.g.,deleting the meeting object deletes the note object).

The note extension 150 may be one of several APIs (Application ProgramInterfaces) or modules used to access different document types andincorporate functionalities of various note applications 170 into theenabled client 140. The note extension 150 may be provided by adeveloper of the note application 170 or a third party, and a given usermay opt into (or out of) extending the functionality of an email andcalendaring application via a plurality of note extensions 150 that areinstalled to operate with the enabled client 140. The note extension 150is referenced by the enabled client 140, not duplicated in its code,which allows for changes in functionality via the note extension 150 tonot affect the synchronization, data storage, and other components ofthe enabled client 150, thereby removing those components as securityconcerns for sharing/granting unauthorized access to the note object.Additionally, the note extension 150 may require additional securitycontexts (e.g., trusted senders/participants, disabled macros) to accessthe note object in the enabled client 140. The separately provided noteextension 150 decouples the feature implementation from the mail andcalendaring application, and allows existing clients to surfaceadditional functionalities without exposing data to an extension. Forexample, a collaborative note-taking experience can be added to ameeting item without requiring the email and calendaring application tobe concerned or even have access to, the note object contained within aseparate note-taking application.

The note application 170, which may be a locally run on a computingdevice accessing the meeting item or accessed as a remotely provided“cloud” service, is used to access the note object when the participantused a legacy client 130 to access the meeting item. In some aspects,the note extension 150 communicates with a note application 170 toprovide extended functionalities within the enabled client 140, while inother aspects, the note extension 150 provides the functionalities of anote application 170 within the enabled client 140 without requiringaccess a note application 170.

FIGS. 2A-2C are example user interfaces (UI). FIG. 2A shows an exampleUI 201 of an email and calendaring application (e.g., an enabled client140) displaying a meeting item and an associated note object via theemail and calendaring application. FIG. 2B shows an example UI 202 of anemail and calendaring application (e.g., a legacy client 130 or enabledclient 140 with disabled functionalities) displaying a meeting item anda hyperlink to the associated note object. FIG. 2C shows an example UI203 of an authoring application (e.g., note application 170) for notetaking displaying the note object accessible via the hyperlink. As willbe appreciated, the example UI 201 and the example UI 202 display thesame body information (as is described in the Message division of CODE1), but example UI 201 also displays the note object shown in FIG. 2Cand provides the functionality of example UI 203 of the authoringapplication within the email and calendaring application to enablemeeting participants to collaborate within their respective email andcalendaring applications when they are enabled clients 140. The embeddedfunctionalities of the authoring application shown in example UI 201 mayinclude all or a portion of the functionalities available in example UI203, and may incorporate additional functionalities of the email andcalendaring application.

In various aspects, if the meeting originator 110 did not embed the noteobject into the meeting request 120, for example, merely attaching anote document or a hyperlink to access a note document, an enabledclient 140 may display the meeting request 120 as is shown in example UI202 or automatically provide access to the attached/linked note documentas is shown in example UI 201.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an examplemethod 300 for interchangeably providing access to extendedfunctionalities for meeting items in enabled clients 140 withoutinterfering with interpretation of the meeting items in legacy clients130. Method 300 begins with OPERATION 310, where a meeting item isopened by a client, wherein the meeting request 120 for the meeting itemincludes an embedded note object. The meeting originator 110, whensending the meeting request 120, embeds the note object into the bodyfield of the meeting request 120, which may include other textdescribing the meeting item in the body field as well as other fieldsdescribing other aspects of the meeting item. In another example, thenote object may be included within its own property in accordance withanother standard. The meeting item is opened in response to aparticipant accessing the meeting request 120 in an email andcalendaring application, syncing a device with an email and calendaringservice, or accepting a meeting invitation.

Method 300 proceeds to DECISION 320 to determine whether in-calendarfunctionality is enabled for the client. The body field, in which thenote object is embedded, is parsed to identify whether recognizable keyvalues are present to thereby trigger provision of additionalfunctionalities. In response to detecting a recognizable key value,method 300 proceeds to OPERATIONS 330 and 340 to display the meetingrequest 120 with additional functionality enabled. If no recognizablekey value is identified (and in some aspects where a key value isidentified), method 300 proceeds to OPERATIONS 350 and 360, where thecontents of the body field, as well as the contents of other fields ofthe meeting request 120 (e.g., title, start/end times, participants,recurrence) are displayed according to the layout of the email andcalendaring application client.

At OPERATION 330 the note extension 150 is called in response todetecting the key value in the body section of the meeting request 120.The note extension 150 parses the information needed to access (orinstantiate) the note object from the note server 160 and provides thefunctionality of an authoring application within the client to accessthe note object therein in OPERATION 340. The note extension 150 enablesthe recipient to establish an authoring session with the note server160, receive content within the note object, add content (via the UI ofthe enabled client 140) to the note object, and receive updates to thecontent from coauthors. Method 300 optionally proceeds to OPERATION 350in addition to OPERATIONS 330 and 340.

At OPERATION 350 a hyperlink to the note object is displayed in the UIof the mail and calendaring application within a field or windowassociated with the body field of a meeting request 120. The hyperlinkis displayed according to the formatting of the body field (e.g., asHTML described text, images, and hypertext) such that legacy clients 130and enabled clients 140 may both display the hyperlink to the noteobject. In various aspects, actuating the hyperlink (e.g., by clickingon the hyperlink in the UI of the mail and calendaring application) willenable the mail and calendaring application to download the note objectto the user's device and/or proceed to OPERATION 360 to call a noteapplication 170 to access the note object.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing general stages involved in an examplemethod 400 for hosting a note object by a note server 160 for provisionto enabled clients 140. Method 400 begins with OPERATION 410, where anote object request is received by the note server 160. In some aspects,the note object request is received from a meeting originator 110 inresponse to transmitting a meeting request 120 to one or morerecipients. In other aspects, the note object request is received from arecipient (or originator) of the meeting request 120 in response to afirst attempt to access the note object.

Proceeding to OPERATION 420, the note server 160 creates the noteobject. The note object is created according to instructions passed tothe note server 160 in the note object request. A URL for the noteobject is embedded in a body field of the meeting request 120 and theURL includes the instructions regarding how the meeting object is to becreated, for example as values to query fields in the URL. Depending onthe instructions present in the URL, the note server 160 will create anew note document with a given title, file format, and characteristicsor will create a new section (e.g., page, sheet, chapter division) of anexisting note document as specified in the URL. In various aspects, thenote server 160 will apply security features to the note document sothat, for example, only users associated with the meeting request 120(e.g., those specified as participants) may access the note object or agiven security clearance is required of users to access the notedocument, which may be correlated with a directory server or accesstoken to satisfy the required security contexts.

At OPERATION 430 the note server 160 confirms creation of the noteobject. In aspects where the note object is created in response to ameeting originator 110 creating a meeting item, the confirmation mayinclude the note server 160 responding to the meeting request 120 (e.g.,“accepting” the meeting request 120) or generating a confirmationmessage, which is sent to the meeting originator 110 (e.g., as an emailmessage). In further aspects, an authoring session for the meetingoriginator 110 (in a calendaring client or a note application 170) isestablished to enable the originating user to input content toinitialize the note object. In aspects where the note object is createdin response to a participant of the meeting item attempting to accessthe note object, the confirmation may include initiating an authoringsession with the participant.

An authoring session includes authenticating the participant andproviding an enabled client 140 or note application 170 the content ofthe note object and receiving authored content from the participant forincorporation into the note object. As will be appreciated, severalparticipants may establish authoring sessions contemporaneously (i.e., acoauthoring session) using different enabled clients 140 and/orauthoring applications 170. For example, a first participant usingcalendar client X may be a coauthor with a second participant usingcalendar client Y and a third participant using word processor Z.

While implementations have been described in the general context ofprogram modules that execute in conjunction with an application programthat runs on an operating system on a computer, those skilled in the artwill recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination withother program modules. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, components, data structures, and other types of structuresthat perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes.

The aspects and functionalities described herein may operate via amultitude of computing systems including, without limitation, desktopcomputer systems, wired and wireless computing systems, mobile computingsystems (e.g., mobile telephones, netbooks, tablet or slate typecomputers, notebook computers, and laptop computers), hand-held devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, and mainframe computers.

In addition, according to an aspect, the aspects and functionalitiesdescribed herein operate over distributed systems (e.g., cloud-basedcomputing systems), where application functionality, memory, datastorage and retrieval and various processing functions are operatedremotely from each other over a distributed computing network, such asthe Internet or an intranet. According to an aspect, user interfaces andinformation of various types are displayed via on-board computing devicedisplays or via remote display units associated with one or morecomputing devices. For example, user interfaces and information ofvarious types are displayed and interacted with on a wall surface ontowhich user interfaces and information of various types are projected.Interaction with the multitude of computing systems with whichimplementations are practiced include, keystroke entry, touch screenentry, voice or other audio entry, gesture entry where an associatedcomputing device is equipped with detection (e.g., camera) functionalityfor capturing and interpreting user gestures for controlling thefunctionality of the computing device, and the like.

FIGS. 5-7 and the associated descriptions provide a discussion of avariety of operating environments in which examples are practiced.However, the devices and systems illustrated and discussed with respectto FIGS. 5-7 are for purposes of example and illustration and are notlimiting of a vast number of computing device configurations that areused for practicing aspects, described herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating physical components (i.e.,hardware) of a computing device 500 with which examples of the presentdisclosure may be practiced. In a basic configuration, the computingdevice 500 includes at least one processing unit 502 and a system memory504. According to an aspect, depending on the configuration and type ofcomputing device, the system memory 504 comprises, but is not limitedto, volatile storage (e.g., random access memory), non-volatile storage(e.g., read-only memory), flash memory, or any combination of suchmemories. According to an aspect, the system memory 504 includes anoperating system 505 and one or more program modules 506 suitable forrunning software applications 550. According to an aspect, the systemmemory 504 includes note extension 150. The operating system 505, forexample, is suitable for controlling the operation of the computingdevice 500. Furthermore, aspects are practiced in conjunction with agraphics library, other operating systems, or any other applicationprogram, and are not limited to any particular application or system.This basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 5 by those componentswithin a dashed line 508. According to an aspect, the computing device500 has additional features or functionality. For example, according toan aspect, the computing device 500 includes additional data storagedevices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magneticdisks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated inFIG. 5 by a removable storage device 509 and a non-removable storagedevice 510.

As stated above, according to an aspect, a number of program modules anddata files are stored in the system memory 504. While executing on theprocessing unit 502, the program modules 506 (e.g., note extension 150)perform processes including, but not limited to, one or more of thestages of the methods 300 and 400 illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4,respectively. According to an aspect, other program modules are used inaccordance with examples and include applications such as electronicmail and contacts applications, word processing applications,spreadsheet applications, database applications, slide presentationapplications, drawing or computer-aided application programs, etc.

According to an aspect, the computing device 500 has one or more inputdevice(s) 512 such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a sound input device,a touch input device, etc. The output device(s) 514 such as a display,speakers, a printer, etc. are also included according to an aspect. Theaforementioned devices are examples and others may be used. According toan aspect, the computing device 500 includes one or more communicationconnections 516 allowing communications with other computing devices518. Examples of suitable communication connections 516 include, but arenot limited to, radio frequency (RF) transmitter, receiver, and/ortransceiver circuitry; universal serial bus (USB), parallel, and/orserial ports.

The term computer readable media, as used herein, includes computerstorage media. Computer storage media include volatile and nonvolatile,removable and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information, such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, or program modules. The system memory504, the removable storage device 509, and the non-removable storagedevice 510 are all computer storage media examples (i.e., memorystorage.) According to an aspect, computer storage media include RAM,ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other article ofmanufacture which can be used to store information and which can beaccessed by the computing device 500. According to an aspect, any suchcomputer storage media are part of the computing device 500. Computerstorage media do not include a carrier wave or other propagated datasignal.

According to an aspect, communication media are embodied by computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other datain a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and include any information delivery media. According to anaspect, the term “modulated data signal” describes a signal that has oneor more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media include wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, radiofrequency (RF), infrared, and other wireless media.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a mobile computing device 600, for example, amobile telephone, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer, a laptopcomputer, and the like, with which aspects may be practiced. Withreference to FIG. 6A, an example of a mobile computing device 600 forimplementing the aspects is illustrated. In a basic configuration, themobile computing device 600 is a handheld computer having both inputelements and output elements. The mobile computing device 600 typicallyincludes a display 605 and one or more input buttons 610 that allow theuser to enter information into the mobile computing device 600.According to an aspect, the display 605 of the mobile computing device600 functions as an input device (e.g., a touch screen display). Ifincluded, an optional side input element 615 allows further user input.According to an aspect, the side input element 615 is a rotary switch, abutton, or any other type of manual input element. In alternativeexamples, mobile computing device 600 incorporates more or fewer inputelements. For example, the display 605 may not be a touch screen in someexamples. In alternative examples, the mobile computing device 600 is aportable phone system, such as a cellular phone. According to an aspect,the mobile computing device 600 includes an optional keypad 635.According to an aspect, the optional keypad 635 is a physical keypad.According to another aspect, the optional keypad 635 is a “soft” keypadgenerated on the touch screen display. In various aspects, the outputelements include the display 605 for showing a graphical user interface(GUI), a visual indicator 620 (e.g., a light emitting diode), and/or anaudio transducer 625 (e.g., a speaker). In some examples, the mobilecomputing device 600 incorporates a vibration transducer for providingthe user with tactile feedback. In yet another example, the mobilecomputing device 600 incorporates input and/or output ports, such as anaudio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audio output (e.g., aheadphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port) for sendingsignals to or receiving signals from an external device. In yet anotherexample, the mobile computing device 600 incorporates peripheral deviceport 640, such as an audio input (e.g., a microphone jack), an audiooutput (e.g., a headphone jack), and a video output (e.g., a HDMI port)for sending signals to or receiving signals from an external device.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of one exampleof a mobile computing device. That is, the mobile computing device 600incorporates a system (i.e., an architecture) 602 to implement someexamples. In one example, the system 602 is implemented as a “smartphone” capable of running one or more applications (e.g., browser,e-mail, calendaring, contact managers, messaging clients, games, andmedia clients/players). In some examples, the system 602 is integratedas a computing device, such as an integrated personal digital assistant(PDA) and wireless phone.

According to an aspect, one or more application programs 650 are loadedinto the memory 662 and run on or in association with the operatingsystem 664. Examples of the application programs include phone dialerprograms, e-mail programs, personal information management (PIM)programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internetbrowser programs, messaging programs, and so forth. According to anaspect, note extension 150 is loaded into memory 662. The system 602also includes a non-volatile storage area 668 within the memory 662. Thenon-volatile storage area 668 is used to store persistent informationthat should not be lost if the system 602 is powered down. Theapplication programs 650 may use and store information in thenon-volatile storage area 668, such as e-mail or other messages used byan e-mail application, and the like. A synchronization application (notshown) also resides on the system 602 and is programmed to interact witha corresponding synchronization application resident on a host computerto keep the information stored in the non-volatile storage area 668synchronized with corresponding information stored at the host computer.As should be appreciated, other applications may be loaded into thememory 662 and run on the mobile computing device 600.

According to an aspect, the system 602 has a power supply 670, which isimplemented as one or more batteries. According to an aspect, the powersupply 670 further includes an external power source, such as an ACadapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges thebatteries.

According to an aspect, the system 602 includes a radio 672 thatperforms the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequencycommunications. The radio 672 facilitates wireless connectivity betweenthe system 602 and the “outside world,” via a communications carrier orservice provider. Transmissions to and from the radio 672 are conductedunder control of the operating system 664. In other words,communications received by the radio 672 may be disseminated to theapplication programs 650 via the operating system 664, and vice versa.

According to an aspect, the visual indicator 620 is used to providevisual notifications and/or an audio interface 674 is used for producingaudible notifications via the audio transducer 625. In the illustratedexample, the visual indicator 620 is a light emitting diode (LED) andthe audio transducer 625 is a speaker. These devices may be directlycoupled to the power supply 670 so that when activated, they remain onfor a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though theprocessor 660 and other components might shut down for conservingbattery power. The LED may be programmed to remain on indefinitely untilthe user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device.The audio interface 674 is used to provide audible signals to andreceive audible signals from the user. For example, in addition to beingcoupled to the audio transducer 625, the audio interface 674 may also becoupled to a microphone to receive audible input, such as to facilitatea telephone conversation. According to an aspect, the system 602 furtherincludes a video interface 676 that enables an operation of an on-boardcamera 630 to record still images, video stream, and the like.

According to an aspect, a mobile computing device 600 implementing thesystem 602 has additional features or functionality. For example, themobile computing device 600 includes additional data storage devices(removable and/or non-removable) such as, magnetic disks, optical disks,or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in FIG. 6B by thenon-volatile storage area 668.

According to an aspect, data/information generated or captured by themobile computing device 600 and stored via the system 602 are storedlocally on the mobile computing device 600, as described above.According to another aspect, the data are stored on any number ofstorage media that are accessible by the device via the radio 672 or viaa wired connection between the mobile computing device 600 and aseparate computing device associated with the mobile computing device600, for example, a server computer in a distributed computing network,such as the Internet. As should be appreciated such data/information areaccessible via the mobile computing device 600 via the radio 672 or viaa distributed computing network. Similarly, according to an aspect, suchdata/information are readily transferred between computing devices forstorage and use according to well-known data/information transfer andstorage means, including electronic mail and collaborativedata/information sharing systems.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of the architecture of a system forinterchangeably providing access to extended functionalities for meetingitems as described above. Content developed, interacted with, or editedin association with the note extension 150 is enabled to be stored indifferent communication channels or other storage types. For example,various documents may be stored using a directory service 722, a webportal 724, a mailbox service 726, an instant messaging store 728, or asocial networking site 730. The note extension 150 is operative to useany of these types of systems or the like for interchangeably providingaccess to extended functionalities for meeting items, as describedherein. According to an aspect, a server 720 provides the note extension150 to clients 705 a,b,c. As one example, the server 720 is a web serverproviding the note extension 150 over the web. The server 720 providesthe note extension 150 over the web to clients 705 through a network740. By way of example, the client computing device is implemented andembodied in a personal computer 705 a, a tablet computing device 705 bor a mobile computing device 705 c (e.g., a smart phone), or othercomputing device. Any of these examples of the client computing deviceare operable to obtain content from the store 716.

Implementations, for example, are described above with reference toblock diagrams and/or operational illustrations of methods, systems, andcomputer program products according to aspects. The functions/acts notedin the blocks may occur out of the order as shown in any flowchart. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

The description and illustration of one or more examples provided inthis application are not intended to limit or restrict the scope asclaimed in any way. The aspects, examples, and details provided in thisapplication are considered sufficient to convey possession and enableothers to make and use the best mode. Implementations should not beconstrued as being limited to any aspect, example, or detail provided inthis application. Regardless of whether shown and described incombination or separately, the various features (both structural andmethodological) are intended to be selectively included or omitted toproduce an example with a particular set of features. Having beenprovided with the description and illustration of the presentapplication, one skilled in the art may envision variations,modifications, and alternate examples falling within the spirit of thebroader aspects of the general inventive concept embodied in thisapplication that do not depart from the broader scope.

We claim:
 1. A method for interchangeably providing access to extendedfunctionalities for meeting items, comprising: opening a meeting item ina calendaring application, wherein the meeting item includes a noteobject embedded in the meeting item; parsing the meeting item;identifying whether the meeting item includes a key value; in responseto identifying that the meeting item includes the key value, calling anote extension; and accessing, within a user interface of thecalendaring application, the note object embedded in the meeting itemvia the note extension.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: inresponse to not identifying that the meeting item includes the keyvalue, displaying the note object in the user interface of thecalendaring application.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the meetingitem includes the key value that is not identified.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the key value indicates a particular note extension tocall as the note extension, wherein the particular note extension isconfigured to provide authoring functionalities for a document type ofthe note object.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the document type ofthe note object is selected from the group comprising: a word processingdocument; a spreadsheet document; a presentation document; and a notetaking document.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the key value isencrypted.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the note objectfurther comprises: transmitting an access request to a note server toinstantiate the note object; receiving the note object from the noteserver.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: authoring contentin the note object, via the user interface of the calendaringapplication; and transmitting the content to the note server.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, wherein transmitting the access request to the noteserver further comprises: authenticating access to the note object; andestablishing an authoring session for the note object on the noteserver.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein opening the meeting itemcomprises syncing a calendar application with a calendar serviceincluding the meeting item.
 11. A method for interchangeably providingaccess to extended functionalities for meeting items, comprising:receiving a note object request at a note server; creating a note objecton the note server according to the note object request; and confirmingcreation of the note object.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein thenote object request is received from a meeting originator in response totransmitting a meeting request to a recipient.
 13. The method of claim11, wherein the note object request is received from a calendaringapplication of a recipient of a meeting request, wherein the meetingrequest specifies properties for the note object within a UniformResource Locator by which the note server receives the note objectrequest.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein confirming creation of thenote object comprises: establishing an authoring session for the noteobject with the calendaring application.
 15. The method of claim 11,wherein creating the note object comprises: accessing an existing notedocument; and creating a new section of the existing note document asthe note object.
 16. A computer readable storage device includingprocessor executable instructions for interchangeably providing accessto extended functionalities for meeting items, comprising: opening ameeting item in a calendaring application, wherein the meeting itemincludes a hyperlink to a note object embedded in a body field of themeeting item; parsing the body field of the meeting item; identifyingwhether the body field includes a key value; in response to identifyingthat the body field includes the key value: calling a note extension;and accessing, within a user interface of the calendaring application,the note object embedded in the body field via the note extension; anddisplaying the hyperlink to the note object in the user interface of thecalendaring application according to the body field.
 17. The computerreadable storage device of claim 16, wherein the body field includes thekey value that is not identified.
 18. The computer readable storagedevice of claim 16, wherein the key value indicates a particular noteextension to call as the note extension, wherein the particular noteextension is configured to provide authoring functionalities for adocument type of the note object and the document type of the noteobject is selected from the group comprising: a word processingdocument; a spreadsheet document; a presentation document; and a notetaking document.
 19. The computer readable storage device of claim 16,wherein accessing the note object further comprises: establishing anauthoring session with a note server via the hyperlink; receivingcontent authored in the note object, via the user interface of thecalendaring application; and transmitting the content to the noteserver.
 20. The computer readable storage device of claim 19, whereinestablishing the authoring session with the note server furthercomprises: transmitting a note object request, using the hyperlink, tothe note server to instantiate the note object for the meeting item.